Ceres Dawn Zeilnhofer Crater Database 2020
Product Information:
Update: Oct. 14, 2021 to version 2 which includes polygonal impact craters (Excel table) as described in Zeilnhofer, 2021.
The Cerean crater database contains 44,594 craters ≥ 1.0 km in diameter in the latitude range of 84.66ºS-89.62ºN over all longitudes [Zeilnhofer, 2020]. This crater database contains eighteen columns of information on each crater. For further detail on the column information please see the dissertation entitled: “A Global Analysis of Impact Craters on Ceres”. It is also important to note that the database does not contain information on the south pole of Ceres due to this region being permanently shadowed in the Dawn images [Platz et al., 2016].
Craters were identified using the Low Altitude Mapping Orbit (LAMO) global mosaic of Ceres found within the Java Mission-planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing (JMARS) software [Gorelick et al., 2003]. The center latitude (°N) and longitude (°E) along with the measured crater diameter (km) were determined using the 3-point crater counting subroutine found within JMARS [Christensen et al., 2009; Wren et al., 2017]. The crater depth (km) and crater rim height (km) are also included in this database and were obtained from the topography data which were created from the digital elevation models (DEM) for the entire surface of Ceres.
Mission and Instrument Information:
The Dawn spacecraft is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Discovery Program mission managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) team located at the University of California, Los Angeles and was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida on September 25, 2007 [Polanskey et al., 2016]. The Dawn spacecraft is equipped with two identical Framing Cameras (FC2, the primary camera and FC1, the backup camera) [Sierks et al., 2011], a Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIR) [De Sanctis et al., 2011] and a Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) [Prettyman et al., 2011]. The Dawn spacecraft went into orbit around Ceres on March 6, 2015 and was retired on November 1, 2018. There were several mission phases including the third rotation characterization (RC3), survey, High Altitude Mapping Orbit (HAMO), Low Altitude Mapping Orbit (LAMO) and the extended mission orbits [Polanskey et al., 2016; Dongsuk et al., 2019].
The data for this database were acquired from the NASA Dawn spacecraft’s Framing Camera during the HAMO (resolution of 140 m/pixel) [Roatsch et al., 2016] and the LAMO phases (resolution of 35 m/pixel) [Roatsch et al., 2017]. The HAMO phase included six cycles at an altitude of ∼1475 km [Russell and Raymond, 2011]. The HAMO global mosaic was created using the 2490 clear filter images acquired during these cycles [Roatsch et al., 2016]. The LAMO phase included eleven cycles with images acquired at altitudes between 365 and 410 km [Russell and Raymond, 2011]. The LAMO global mosaic was created using the 31,300 clear filter images acquired during this phase [Roatsch et al., 2017].
The digital elevation models (DEM) were produced from the stereographic Framing Camera images resulting in two topography models (the mean spheroid model and the oblate spheroid model) which are included within JMARS. The mean spheroid model uses the DEM radii of a sphere with a radius of 469,430 m [Raymond et al., 2011; Roatsch et al., 2016] and the oblate spheroid model subtracts an oblate spheroid from the DEM radii of a sphere with a radius of 469,430 m to help conserve local topography differences across the body [Raymond et al., 2011; Roatsch et al., 2016].
References:
Christensen, P. R., Engle, E., Anwar, S., Dickenshied, S., Noss, D., Gorelick, N., and Weiss-Malik, M. (2009). JMARS - A Planetary GIS. AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts, (pp. IN22A–06).
De Sanctis, M.C., Coradini, A., Ammannito, E., Filacchione, G., Capria, M.T., Fonte, S., Magni, G., Barbis, A., Bini, A., Dami, M., Ficai-Veltroni, I., Preti, G., and VIR Team, (2011), The VIR Spectrometer, Space Science Review, 163, 329-369, doi: 10.1007/s11214-010-9668-5.
Dongsuk, H., Brian, K., Brian, R., Daniel, G., Nickolaos, M., Gregory, W., Nicholas, B., and Reza, K. (2019). Dawn’s Final Mission at Ceres: Navigation and Mission Design Experience. 18th Australian Aerospace Congress, 24-28 February 2019, Melbourne. 1-15.
Gorelick, N. S., Weiss-Malik, M., Steinberg, B., and Anwar, S. (2003). JMARS: A Multimission Data Fusion Application. 34th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, 34.
Platz, T., Nathues, A., Schaefer, M., Schenk, P., Kneissl, T., Hoffmann, M., Schmedemann, N., Hiesinger, H., Sykes, M. V., Raymond, C. A., and Russell, C. T. (2016). Impact Cratering on Ceres: The Simple-to-Complex Transition. In Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (p. 2308). volume 47 of Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Polanskey, C., Joy, S., and Raymond, C. (2016). Dawn Ceres Mission: Science Operations Performance. Paper presented at the SpaceOps Conference, Daejeon, Korea. https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/6.2016-2442
Prettyman, T. H., Feldman, W. C., McSwen, H. Y., Dingler, R. D., Enemark, D. C., Patrick, D. E., Storms, S. A., Hendricks, J. S., Morgenthaler, J. P., Pitman, K. M., and Reedy, R. C. (2011). Dawn’s Gamma Ray and Neutron Detector, Space Science Reviews, 163 371-459. doi: 10.1007/s11214-011-9862-0.
Roatsch, T., Kersten, E., Matz, K.-D., Preusker, F., Scholten, F., Jaumann, R., Raymond, C. A., and Russell, C. T. (2016). High-resolution Ceres High Altitude Mapping Orbit atlas derived from Dawn Framing Camera images. Planetary Space Science, 129, 103–107. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2016.05.011.
Roatsch, T., Kersten, E., Matz, K.-D., Preusker, F., Scholten, F., Jaumann, R., Raymond, C. A., and Russell, C. T. (2017). High-resolution Ceres Low Altitude Mapping Orbit Atlas derived from Dawn Framing Camera images. Planetary Space Science, 140, 74–79. doi:10.1016/j.pss.2017.04.008.
Russell, C. T., and Raymond, C. A. (2011). The Dawn Mission to Vesta and Ceres. Space Science Review, 163, 3–23. doi:10.1007/s11214-011-9836-2.
Sierks, H., Keller, H. U., Jaumann, R., Michalik, H., Behnke, T., Bubenhagen, F., Büttner, I., Carsenty, U., Christensen, U., Enge, R., Fiethe, B., Gutíerrez Marqúes, P., Hartwig, H., Krüger, H., Kühne, W., Maue, T., Mottola, S., Nathues, A., Reiche, K.-U., Richards, M. L., Roatsch, T., Schröder, S. E., Szemerey, I., and Tschentscher, M. (2011). The Dawn Framing Camera. Space Science Reviews, 163, 263–327. doi:10.1007/s11214-011-9745-4.
Wren, P. F., Dickenshied, S., Answar, S., Noss, D., Hagee, W., Carter, S., Rios, K., and Burris, M. (2017). Impact crater analysis capabilities of the Java Mission Planning and Analysis for Remote Sensing (JMARS) application. In Planetary Crater Consortium (p. 1720). volume 8 of Planetary Crater Consortium.
Zeilnhofer, M. (2020). A Global Analysis of Impact Craters on Ceres. ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, 1-251, proquest: 27963349, URL: https://search.proquest.com/openview/4e9a383f80b524bf68f755ff3649d02d
Zeilnhofer, M.F., Barlow, N.G., (2021). The morphologic and morphometric characteristics of craters on Ceres and implications for the crust. Icarus. 368, 114428. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114428
Zeilnhofer, M.F., Barlow, N.G., (2021). The Characterization and Distribution of Polygonal Impact Craters on Ceres and their Implications for the Cerean Crust. Icarus, 368, 114586, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.icarus.2021.114586
- Mimetype
- application/zip
- Filename
- ceres_dawn_fc2_craterdatabase_zeilnhofer_2020_v2.zip
- Publisher
- Department of Astronomy and Planetary Science, Northern Arizona University (NAU)
- Publication Date
- 14 October 2021
- Author
- Michael F. Zeilnhofer
- Originator
- Michael F. Zeilnhofer, Nadine G. Barlow
- Group
- Astropedia, MRCTR
- Added to Astropedia
- 7 August 2020
- Modified
- 14 October 2021
General
- Purpose
The purpose of this database is to have a through catalog of craters on Ceres for further research studies of the dwarf planet 1 Ceres.
- Geospatial Data Presentation Form
- Database, Vector Data, Tabular Data
- Edition
- 2
- Native Data Set Environment
- ESRI Arcinfo
- Supplemental Information
- https://search.proquest.com/openview/4e9a383f80b524bf68f755ff3649d02d
Keywords
- System
- Small Bodies
- Target
- Ceres
- Theme
- Dwarf planets, Impact Crater, Craters, Geographic Information System (GIS)
- Mission
- Dawn
- Mission Specific
- Framing Camera (FC2)
- Search Terms
- Ceres, Craters, Impact Processes, Remote Sensing, Geographic Information System (GIS)
Contact and Distribution
- Access Constraints
- none
- Access Instructions
- CSV table file reader, GIS Application needed for viewing the shapefiles.
- Use Constraints
- please cite authors
Data Status and Quality
- Time Period of Content Begin
- 22 August 2016
- Time Period of Content End
- 19 August 2019
- Currentness Reference
- Ground condition
- Progress
- In Work
- Update Frequency
- As needed
- Completeness Report
This crater database is not 100 percent complete for all craters ≥ 1.0 km in diameter due to lack of crater data reported for craters between 84.67-90°S 0-360°E. There may also be highly degraded craters which are not reported within the database due to resolution. This is discussed further in the dissertation.
- Process Description
Please see the dissertation for the extensive description of the process to create the crater database for Ceres. The LAMO global mosaic (~35 m/pixel) for Ceres found within JMARS was used to measure the crater diameter (km). The crater’s center latitude and longitude were determined using the 3-point crater counting routine while the mean spheroid and oblate spheroid topography models were used to determine the crater depth and rim height.
- Horizontal Positional Accuracy Value
- 100
- Horizontal Positional Accuracy Report
- Best Effort
- Entity and Attribute Detailed Description
- Please see dissertation and column description in the download
Lineage
- PDS Status
- PDS 4 Compatible
- Source PDS Archive
- Dawn
- Source Originator
- Planetary Data System
- Source Publication Date
- 19 August 2020
- Source Title
- Dawn Data Archive
- Source Online Linkage
- https://sbn.psi.edu/pds/resource/dawn/
- Type of Source Media
- Online
- Attribute Accuracy Report
- Best Effort
Geospatial Information
- Feature Target
- Crater
- Location Description
- Global
- Minimum Latitude
- -90
- Maximum Latitude
- 90
- Minimum Longitude
- -180
- Maximum Longitude
- 180
- Direct Spatial Reference Method
- Vector
- Object Type
- Point
- Radius A
- 470000
- Radius C
- 470000
- Horizontal Coordinate System Units
- Degrees
- Map Projection Name
- Simple Cylindrical
- Latitude Type
- Planetocentric
- Longitude Direction
- Positive East
- Longitude Domain
- -180 to 180